Dominica: 15,4m EUR banana support package

A new 15,4 (EC$54) million EUR banana support programme was launched in the Carribean state, Dominica. The package is part of the European Commission’s Banana Accompanying Measures (BAM) programme.Under the BAM programme, ten ACP countries are to benefit from a total of 190 million EUR of accompanying measures in the banana sector between 2010 and 2013. The programme aims to help the ACP member states to cope with the new EU banana regime after December 2009, when the EU agreed to cut the EU's banana tariff for Latin American countries - its so-called Most Favoured Nation or MFN tariff - (which lead to a decrease in the preferential margin which ACP countries enjoyed). However, in the last period the ACP countries have complained that the programme is not advancing at an appropriate rhythm. The country has not more than 72,000 people.